In February 2010, Grant Butler, food writer at The Oregonian (yes, print still exists, guys, geesh!), went vegan for a month in a self-described ‘”journalistic stunt”. (Read about his reasons here.)

A couple of years later, and here we are: Grant Butler is The Oregonian’s resident vegan, and he even moderated a couple of panels at 2011’s inaugural Vida Vegan Con. Attendees of The Dating and Mating Panel and The Nutrition Panel may remember his thoughtful and engaging questions.

When applications started rolling in for Vida Vegan Con 2013, Jess, Michele and I were stoked to see that Mr. Butler applied.

As a journalist, and a vegan professional working in a very non-vegan world, his proposals intrigued us and we’re really geekily excited to have him as a speaker for the 2013 conference.

His topics (stay tuned for class announcements, sooooon!) will be engaging, thoughtful and professional, just like the man himself.

Only seminally related, I saw a few weeks ago on his Facebook page the most delicious looking vegan cinnamon rolls everrrrrrrrrrrrrr. If that man can bake like that, we want him involved in as many vegan events as he can stomach!

Grant is making an intelligent choice. I’m 8+ years vegan have never missed any food I now do without. You’ll not only lose weight (if you eat mostly whole, unprocessed foods), you’ll have more energy and spunk in your step.